Today we joined Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin as she announced the Oklahoma Connect and Learn Initiative, a coordinated effort to bring high-speed broadband and digital learning opportunities to schools across the state. As part of the initiative, Oklahoma is partnering with interested school districts and telecommunications service providers to increase the number of schools with fiber optic connections, improve the capacity and affordability of those connections, and ensure Oklahoma classrooms have Wi-Fi access to better facilitate digital learning.

“I am proud to establish the Oklahoma Connect and Learn Initiative,” said Governor Fallin. “The initiative is a voluntary program that works with schools to use existing funding efficiently and effectively to maximize opportunities to provide high-speed broadband and Wi-Fi access to students across Oklahoma.

“This technology also creates digital learning opportunities so that every student may have a personalized learning plan that may include upper level math and science classes and concurrent enrollment courses.”

The governor’s office along with the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services and local school district superintendent, Scott Chenoweth, will lead the Oklahoma Connect and Learn Initiative. We look forward to partnering with each of them to provide broadband network upgrade assistance to school districts across the state.

We want to see all students in Oklahoma—and across the country—get online at speeds that can support digital learning. Access to high-speed broadband is imperative to ensuring students have the tools and resources they need to learn and grow in the classroom.

EducationSuperHighway is thrilled to partner with Governor Fallin in this visionary effort and we commend her for her leadership. We look forward to helping Oklahoma school districts get the bandwidth needed to support digital learning opportunities for their students today and into the future.